A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube - Couverture souple

[Fermor's] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic of what we might call the 'literature of the leg' (Robert Macfarlane, Waitrose Weekend)

Nothing short of a masterpiece (Jan Morris)

This is a traveller's tale at its infectious and informative best; vividly remembered and beautifully written (Church Times)

"[Patrick Leigh Fermor] stands beside Robert Byron as the finest travel writer of his generation." Colin Thubron. (Sunday Telegraph)

Every page of this book is distinguished by an image, a metaphor, a flash of humour always original and sometimes as incisive as a laser beam. (Vincent Cronin)

'A Time of Gifts' is a treasure chest of descriptive writing and contains compelling glimpses of the events which were curdling Europe then. (Spectator)

In 1933, at the age of 18, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on an extraordinary journey by foot - from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the reader with him as far as Hungary.

It is a book of compelling glimpses - not only of the events which were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic.